Mage
The mage is a DPS caster that specializes in burst damage and area of effect spells. Their primary role in a group at lower levels is damage dealing and crowd control through the use of Polymorph, temporarily changing humanoids and beasts into harmless critters. At end-game levels, mages' damage is supplemented with Counterspell, Remove Curse, and Spellsteal. Mages' utility spells also include conjuring food and drink and the ability to teleport to major cities and open portals for party members. In PvP, Mage deals ranged damage while using snare effects and Polymorph to control enemy players. As damage casters, primary stats are spell power, spell hit rating and spell haste. intellect, stamina, spell crit, and spirit also benefit mages, but to a lesser degree. Lore Mages, the most common of arcanists, are found all over Azeroth. They focus on magic that creates and that changes things, most often with the purpose of damaging their enemies and boosting the power of their allies.World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game, 59 Such beings can obtain a familiar, which is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a mage, while others choose to become focused mages.Alliance Player's Guide, 17 Mages also understand the workings of arcane energy so well that they can counter most magic with great effectiveness. An adept mage who has dedication to and natural predilection for one of the schools of specialization becomes more entrenched. At this point the mage chooses either evocation or transmutation as a preferred school, and casts spells from his chosen school. The mages of the Kirin Tor first mastered the arts of casting spells using the elements of ice and fire. Mages are also known for being able to summon elementals, usually water elementals, but can also summon air, earth and fire elementals as well.World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game, 59, 60 The greatest mortal mage ever to live is the Naga Queen Azshara, who still lives. In fact, she may no longer be mortal.Dark Factions, 34 The first known mages on Azeroth were elves, before the breaking of the Well of Eternity and the Exile of the High Elves, who lived on the shores of the Well of Eternity and wielded its powers. Origins '' manual.]] Early kaldorei civilization was defined by direct manipulation of magic drawn from the Well of Eternity to create and sustain their society. The constant use of the well attracted attention from Sargeras and the Burning Legion, and their coming resulted in a massive war known as the War of the Ancients. The war had grave consequences, for even though the combined might of Azeroth's mortal races were victorious, the continent of Kalimdor was shattered, and a swirling, raging miasma of sea storms flowed into the vacant area where the Well of Eternity used to reside. This Great Sundering caused the Well's waters to be permeated into the atmosphere and spread magic all over the world. This event convinced the majority of night elves to reject arcane magic and embrace Malfurion Stormrage's call for druidism. Many of the Highborne refused this lifestyle, and left in self-imposed exile to Lordaeron where they eventually founded their kingdom of Quel'Thalas and became the high elves. When their kingdom came under siege by the trolls of Zul'Aman the high elves agreed to teach one hundred humans the arts of magic in exchange for military aid from the human nation of Arathor. From these two races, the arcane arts have spread to various races all over Azeroth. Dalaran Once students of the Conjurers of Azeroth, this new order of mages had been forced to discover untapped magical forces to command in their war against the ruthless orcs. Although masters of their arts, the Conjurers who fell during the First War were unprepared for the rigors of warfare. Determined to avoid a similar fate, the mages began to undertake a regimen equally demanding on body and soul, thus dedicating themselves to the command of more aggressive and destructive magiks. Whether in their sanctum at the Violet Citadel in Dalaran or on the many battlefields of Lordaeron, the mages are resolute in their efforts to defend the people.''Warcraft II'' manual, 47 The most powerful mages of the Eastern Kingdoms were perhaps the Archmagi of Dalaran. The city was transported to Northrend when the mages believed they were in danger. It now hovers in the air over the Crystalsong forest and is ruled by the Kirin Tor. The Kirin Tor are quick to recognized fellow mages as allies where outsiders must do more to prove themselves. Notable mages * Aegwynn * Aethas Sunreaver * Antonidas * Nielas Aran * Azshara * Kel'Thuzad (Now a Lich) * Khadgar * Krasus * Medivh * Jaina Proudmoore * Rhonin * Illidan Stormrage * Kael'thas Sunstrider Races The mage class can be played by the following races: Gear When first created, a mage is only able to wield staves and wands; one can later learn how to use daggers and one-handed swords from weapon masters in Stormwind, Darnassus and the Exodar for the Alliance, Undercity and Silvermoon for the Horde. Wands go in the ranged slot and have the autoshoot ability, and do not require any form of ammunition. A mage can only wear cloth armor. Magi gear primarily for spell power and haste. An appropriate amount of Spell hit is maintained to ensure no spells miss. Spell crit is inferior to haste point-for-point, but is desired by mages using a fire specialization (specifically those with Master of Elements). Spirit is the typically the least desirable mage stat, providing mana regeneration and spell crit through Molten Armor (the talent Student of the Mind can also boost Spirit by as much as 10%). Spells Mages have a wide variety of spells which fall in to three schools of magic: arcane, fire and frost. All spell schools include damage spells. Arcane includes some crowd control and utility, and most Frost spells provide a movement-slow effect supplementing their damage. Fire spells are primarily damage-dealing spells, including direct single-target damage and area of effect damage. Many Fire spells include damage over time effects. Frost spells are primarily single-target and area of effect damage-dealing spells, but with more emphasis on chilling effects. Nearly every frost spell has a chill or freeze effect that fully or partially immobilizes an enemy. This includes freezing it in place (called a root) or slowing its movement speed (called a snare). Frost specialized mages can further improve these chilling effects and increase frost damage output to respectable levels. Frost spells help the mage use kiting as a combat tactic. Arcane spells include single-target damage spells and utility. Arcane spells allow the mage to remove curses, provide crowd control, absorb damage, teleport himself or others to major capital cities, Slow Fall, Counterspell, buff players' intellect stat, save mana for later use in the form of mana gems, conjure food and water for himself or others, and provide many other conveniences. Arcane and Fire are the trees currently best suited to raid damage. Frost's snare effects and Ice Barrier make it the best leveling and PvP tree. Fire and Arcane specs lack the control and survival abilities crucial to leveling and PvP. Talents Mage talents are split into 3 categories which mirror their 3 main spell types. Descriptions of the roles of mages who specialize in each talent tree are shown in parentheses. Arcane The arcane tree's damage focuses on Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles. Arcane can provide the greatest potential damage output mages can offer. The Arcane tree includes Slow, an instant single-target slowing effect, and Arcane Barrage, an instant-damage ranged attack. Arcane mages can provide substantial burst damage with Arcane Power and Presence of Mind. Fire Fire's damage output is oriented around Living Bomb and Hot Streak. Living Bomb is an instant cast damage-over-time effect. Hot Streak is a triggered effect: whenever a Fire mage deals two critical strikes in a row, their next Pyroblast spell is instant. Fire is currently worse than Arcane for single-target damage, but Living Bomb can allow Fire to keep pace with Arcane in fights with multiple targets. Fights in which players are forced to move frequently can also benefit Fire mages, as Living Bomb and Hot Streak-enabled instant Pyroblasts can fill the movement time which Arcane mages can only use for Arcane Barrage, Fire Blast and Ice Lance which is especially poor damage against bosses. The Fire talent tree provides few survival tools. This has historically made the fire tree a good choice for high-end raiders who seek to maximize damage output, but poor in PvP due to Resilience's reduction of critical strike chance and Arena's survival requirements. Frost Frost specializes in crowd control and snaring foes with its various chills, allowing for powerful kiting, and provides good AoE capability. It is the most mana-efficient spec. That efficiency coupled with the survival abilities derived from its chilling tools make it the most popular leveling and PvP tree. Frost's AoE makes it the spec best suited to five-player dungeons. However, it is not as competitive as fire and arcane for producing DPS in raid instances. Frost is most effective in PvP, as Frost mages can learn Ice Barrier to protect themselves from damage and Deep Freeze to supplement their snare effects with a stun. Frost mages can also learn Summon Water Elemental, gaining a pet which has a Freeze ability similar to Frost Nova. Common builds Notice that while all three trees of talents already have been given names, different talent-builds invented by players have also been given names. Frost & Fire: *A mage with talent-points spent both in fire and frost is often called an "elemental mage" / "elementalist". Since Wrath of the Lich King was released, a mage with such a build is also usually aiming to specifically empower his/her Frostfire Bolt, becoming a "Frostfire Mage" (sometimes abbreviated to FFB mage). Arcane & Fire: *A mage with points both in fire and arcane is often referred to be a "three-minute mage" because this kind of mage often base(d) their damage on combining the fire-talent spell Pyroblast, which takes long time to cast yet provides powerful damage, with the arcane-talent-spells Presence of Mind and Arcane Power to create a instant-cast, long-ranged, high-damage spell. As the two arcane-spells both had a three minute cooldown, one would say the mage "functioned" (most likely in a humorous context) only every three minutes. However, since patch Patch 3.0.9 Arcane Power and Presence of Mind shares cooldown, which somewhat ruined the three-minute mage. Still, with the talent Arcane Flows which was introduced in Patch 3.0.2, the cooldown of both Arcane Power and Presence of Mind may be reduced to two minutes, changing the original Three-minute mage into a "Two-minute mage". This spec was championed during The Burning Crusade by the mage Pigvomithttp://www.warcraftmovies.com/pv.php?t=3&l=Pigvomit. Arcane & Frost: *A mage with points both in arcane and frost is sometimes called a "Arcane Shatter" mage. The names most likely derive from the arcane spell Arcane Barrage, the arcane talent Missile Barrage and the frost-talent Shatter. This talent specialization was popularized by the success of Abni, who obtained Gladiator titles for several seasons using this spec. Endgame expectations In a group or raid environment, mages are usually tasked with ranged DPS, AoE, Counterspell, Spellsteal, Crowd Control and finally Ritual of Refreshment. With the introduction of patch 1.11, mages enjoyed a high degree of flexibility in the endgame. Previous to patch 1.11, it was expected that most mages would spend at least 11 talent points in the arcane tree for Evocation, as it is a quite powerful mana-regenerative spell. It was given free without the use of talent points. New changes to all three trees also made investing points into both the fire and the frost trees much more viable. This still holds true with the release of Burning Crusade. It should be mentioned that a build predominantly using the fire tree will usually contribute greater DPS in multiple-target encounters; those using a predominantly arcane tree will usually contribute greater DPS in single-target encounters; and finally, those using a predominantly frost tree will contribute a fair amount of control. The endgame mage also acts as a utility class, providing drink, food, buffs and portals. Originally, when it came to providing drink and food, mages were by some considered equal to "vending machines" due to their unique ability to create food and drink and provide them with no cost except mana and time. In Wrath of the Lich King, Refreshment Tables may also be created at level 80 at the cost of five Arcane Powder; the table lasts for three minutes or 50 charges of Conjured Mana Strudel, whichever comes first. It is expected that a mage provides his party or raid with food and drink for free. A second (or third) table can sometimes be called for while mustering players at the beginning of a raid if the first expires before everyone has received their strudel. PvP PvP-wise, mages are considered "glass cannons" - a design philosophy which gives mages generous burst damage at the cost of generally low health and armor values. Aided by talents such as Presence of Mind and Arcane Power, they are one of the classes with the potential for dealing out the greatest amount of damage in the shortest amount of time. In group PvP, mages will stay back and focus on crowd control with Polymorph and pick off targets from range. Depending on the Battleground and the situation, mages typically AoE to prevent node captures or nuke flag carriers as fast as possible. In solo PvP, a skilled frost mage is a formidable opponent. Cataclysm changes General preview (available at level 81): Inspired by Prince Taldaram’s abilities in Ahn'kahet and Icecrown Citadel, this spell allows the mage to cast a flaming orb that travels in front in a straight line, sending beams that cause fire damage to passing targets. Once it’s cast, the mage is free to begin casting other spells as the Flame Orb travels. While the spell will be useful to any spec, Fire mages will have talents that improve it, possibly causing the Flame Orb to explode when it reaches its destination. (level 83): Grants a passive Haste effect much like or to party or raid members. It also temporarily increases the mage's own movement speed. Time Warp will be exclusive with Bloodlust and Heroism, meaning you can’t benefit from both if you’ve got the Exhaustion debuff, though the movement-speed increase will still work even when under the effects of Exhaustion. (level 85): Creates a line of frost in front of the mage, 30 yards from end to end. Enemies who cross the line are snared and take damage. The mana cost will be designed to make Wall of Fog efficient against groups, not individuals. This spell is intended to give mages a way to help control the battlefield, whether the mage is damaging incoming enemies (Blizzard can be channeled on top of Wall of Fog) or protecting a flag in a Battleground. 10-second duration. 30-second cooldown. Changes to abilities and mechanics In addition to introducing new spells, we're planning to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics you're familiar with. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we intend for each spec. * is being redesigned to become a proc-based spell. Whenever the mage does damage with any spell, there is a chance for Arcane Missiles to become available, similar to how the warrior’s works. The damage and mana cost of this spell will be reworked to make it very desirable to use when available. This change should make gameplay more dynamic for the mage, particularly at low levels. *We are planning to remove spells that don't have a clear purpose. , , , and are being removed from the game, and we may remove more. *The ability to conjure food and water will not become available until higher levels (likely around level 40), as we're making changes to ensure mages generally won’t run out of mana at lower levels. Once mages learn how to conjure food and water, the conjured item will restore both health and mana. * will provide a damage bonus to the mage's fire spells. Our goal is for Scorch to be part of the mage's rotation and a useful damage-dealing ability, even if someone else is supplying the group with the spell Critical Strike debuff. Scorch will provide the mage with more specific benefits, which can also be improved through talents. Talent changes * will now return mana for each spell that fails to hit your target, including Arcane Missiles that fail to launch. We want Arcane mages to have several talents that play off of how much mana the character has and give the player enough tools to manage mana. *The talent will reduce the cooldown of when hit by a melee attack, instead of its current effect. * will grant Haste when three or more targets are getting damaged by the effects of your damage-over-time (DoT) fire spells. *The talent will allow mages to cast spells using health when they run out of mana. Masteries ;Arcane #Spell damage #Spell Haste #Mana Adept: Arcane will deal damage based how much mana the mage has. For example, Arcane mages will do much more damage at 100% mana than at 50% mana. If they begin to get low on mana, they will likely want to use an ability or mechanic to bring their mana up to increase their damage. ;Fire #Spell damage #Spell Crit #Ignite: All direct-damage fire spells will add a damage-over-time (DoT) component when cast. The flavor will be similar to how Fireball works; however, the DoT component will be much stronger. ;Frost #Spell damage #Spell Crit damage #Deathfrost: Casting Frostbolt places a buff on the mage that increases the damage for all frost, fire, and arcane spells. The only damage spell that won't be affected by this buff is Frostbolt. We hope you enjoyed this preview, and we’re looking forward to hearing your initial thoughts and feedback on these additions and changes. Please keep in mind that this information represents a work in progress and is subject to change as development on Cataclysm continues. }} Clarifications Trivia *The Wrath of the Lich King faction of Dalaran, the Kirin Tor, start with a reputation standing with all other classes. Mages, however, are automatically with the Kirin Tor, making it possible to purchase and wear the Tabard of the Kirin Tor at level 1. *Dr. Bill Lee, a re-occurring character from the TV Series 'Stargate SG-1' and 'Stargate Atlantis,' states that he plays a mage, and makes multiple references to the game, including Elwynn Forest. While his character's race is not explicitly stated, it's assumed from that statement that he plays a human. See also * Arcane magic * List of mage stamina gear * List of mages * Mage theorycraft * Mage (Warcraft II) * Mages as tanks * Spell power coefficients References External links ;Other sites: it:Mago pl:Mage ja:Mage Category:Mages Category:Core classes Category:WoW classes Category:World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game Category:Alliance Player's Guide Category:Dark Factions